In June, Mubi will be offering a large share of its new releases to the Queer community. Although films featuring the realities of diversity have become increasingly present over the past 3 or 4 years, cinema highlighting these realities has been around for a long time. Bravo to Mubi for launching this series of works. 

But that’s not all that’s coming next month. Mubi will once again be offering a fine line-up of works to see or revisit. 

Let’s take a closer look. 

A place of our own: Queer spaces on film

From romantic comedies to boldly experimental shorts, movie lovers can dive into MUBI’s electric offering of LGBTQ+ cinema this Pride season and year-round. 

Beginning June 1, the platform will launch A place of our own: Queer spaces on film, a new collection featuring a blend of iconic queer films and lesser-known LGBTQ+ films, showcasing the vibrant representation of queer cultures in social spaces where diverse queer identities have flourished.

This year’s releases

The Last Year of Darkness (Benjamin Mullinkosson) – 2023 | Now streaming exclusively on MUBI

Attuned to the energy of nightlife in the Sichuan capital, Benjamin Mullinkosson’s immersive documentary pulsates to the euphoric beats of electronic music. A love letter to the city’s charismatic nonconformists and the fabled club that provides a queer haven amid an ever-changing urban landscape.

Maurice’s Bar (Tom Prezman and Tzor Edery) – 2023 | Starting June 1 

In 1942, on a train to nowhere, a former drag queen remembers a night from her past in one of Paris’ first queer bars. Remnants of customer gossip recall this mythic bar and its mysterious Jewish-Algerian owner. 

Maurice’s Bar won the Silver Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2023. A short animated film.

The coming classics

Casa Roshell (Camila José Donoso) – 2017 | Starting June 1 

Music plays, drinks are served and the last boundaries are suspended: those between gender; gay, straight and bi; reality and fiction. Roshell and Lili run a small transformist club in Mexico City, where men of all ages and backgrounds come to watch, cruise or learn how to dress in drag.

This year’s other releases

Dad & Step-Dad (Tynan DeLong) – 2023 | Streaming June 1

Streaming on MUBI just in time for Father’s Day, Dad & Step-Dad is a comedy about family, communication, insecurity, and the fragility of the male ego. 

In an effort to bond for the sake of Branson, their 13-year-old son, Jim and Dave, a dad and a step-dad, spend a weekend in a cabin upstate together with their shared kid. However, tensions start to mount as differing parenting techniques come to the fore.

Other coming classics

Passion (Ryusuke Hamaguchi) – 2008 | Streaming exclusively on MUBI June 26

To celebrate the recent release of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Silver Lion winning masterpiece Evil Does Not Exist, MUBI exclusively presents Passion, which remained unreleased in the US until last year. 

Following a couple whose engagement announcement causes their small group of friends to slowly fracture, this is an awe-inspiring film that bears many of the staples that Hamaguchi would become known for while bouncing along to its own emotional velocity.

My Blueberry Nights (Wong Kar Wai) – 2007 | Streaming June 30

Starring Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz, this Palme d’Or nominee follows Elizabeth who leaves her memories behind after a nasty breakup and chases her dreams across the country. Picking up a series of jobs to support herself along the way, the myriad of lost souls she meets help her to understand the journey as part of a greater exploration within herself.

Chasing rainbows: Films by the Ross brothers

To celebrate the release of Gasoline Rainbow, MUBI presents a career-spanning retrospective of American raconteurs Bill and Turner Ross. 

Featured is their long unavailable, SXSW-winning debut feature, 45365, which explores the town of Sidney, Ohio in a way that only the Ross brothers can summon. Alongside it is their sensational collaboration with David Byrne, Contemporary Color, filmed partially at Toronto’s Scotiabank arena and features colour guard teams from Quebec and Kitchener-Waterloo.